STATUS
PAPER 2002
The
Indian Tea Association released its Status Paper on production,
exports, sales and consumption of tea in August this year.
The Paper, the 14th in the series prepared and published
annually by ITA, is a thorough analysis and wide-angle representation
of the international as well as domestic tea scenarios in
year 2001. Additionally, after evaluating the past trends
and market conditions, the Paper also made an attempt to
extrapolate the would-be industry scenario in 2002.
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PRODUCTION
World
tea production in 2001 achieved all-time records. Production
was reported at 3,012 mkg, which was a rise of 3.2 per cent
(94 mkg) over the level in 2000.
Significantly, Kenya alone contributed 63 per cent (59 mkg)
to the rise in the world tea crop. Kenya's high output has
been credited to ideal growing conditions which ensured
a 25 per cent spurt in production which stood at 295 mkg.
Incidentally, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Vietnam registered
record crop too. Sri Lanka was not able to maintain its
2000 production level due to unfavourable weather conditions
towards the end of the year.
India, however, continued its poor performance in 2001 with
production rising only marginally by 0.9 per cent (7.2 mkg)
to 853.7 mkg from 846.5 mkg. North India contributed 76
per cent to the output and South the balance. While production
fell marginally in south India, it rose by nine mkg in the
North.
It might be pointed out here that an increase in production
in the 1st and 3rd quarters led to an unwanted over-supply
situation, particularly of the plainer categories. While
much of the crop came from the BLF segment, an overall quality
improvement in output from the North and South was also
witnessed. Orthodox production was higher by eight mkg though
it witnessed a substantial price erosion in north India.
The total production in 2001 in north India was 650.7 mkg
against 641.9 mkg in 2000, recording a rise of 1.4 per cent.
This was because year 2001 got off to a good start with
ideal growing conditions. With the exception of April, October
and December, the crop was consistently higher than in the
previous year. November witnessed record harvests. Concerned
over the increasing supply pressure and the need to restrict
output of plainer low categories, the CCPA had advised all
tea estates and factories to stop production in December
2001. As a result north India produced 21 mkg lower crop
than the 1999 level of 57 mkg and four mkg lower than the
2000 level when a similar decision was taken.
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South India saw an output fall of 1.6 mkg to a level of
202.9 mkg during 2001 against 204.5 mkg in 2000. Tamil
Nadu achieved a record crop of 132 mkg.
| WORLD
TEA SCENARIO |
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2001 |
Diff.
(2001-2000) |
| |
M.Kg. |
M.Kg. |
% |
| Production |
3012 |
94 |
3.2 |
| Exports |
1389 |
56 |
4.0 |
| Prices |
Decreased
in all countries except in Sri Lanka & Bangladesh |
ITA's efforts to boost Orthodox manufacture achieved some
results in 2001. The share of Orthodox tea in the total
crop stood at 11.2 per cent - an improvement from the 2000
level of 10.4 per cent. North India reported an increase
of eight mkg. In the South, Orthodox output maintained the
same level of last year, CTC was down by one mkg..
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